Experiences With the People and Places

Want to know how to make tamales? Well you start with 50 kilos of pork...at least if you're helping in the kitchen preparing for the fiesta patronal in Fortuna Bagaces you do. The entries in this blog tell story of how we came by our tamale recipe and many other experiences we've had getting to know Costa Rica.

TripAdvisor Fake Reviews Investigated - BBC News
Over three years after it was first widely reported (see below) that the postings on the popular travel review site were suspect there are still considerable concerns as reported in this May 2014 article from the BBC.
"The fake review problem is … [Read more...]

Four a.m. is early, even for me, but that’s the time my body chooses to be awake in the tropics. If there’s a good reason - hiking, turtle nesting or avoiding San Jose traffic for examples - Sue will get up too, but otherwise I’m on my own.
My favorite thing to do when there’s a big moon or a … [Read more...]

I suppose Costa Rico would have to be a peninsula jutting off the Coast of Central America into the Caribbean sea. Since the name "Costa Rico" is an imaginary concatenation of Costa Rica and Puerto Rico I guess the country would be a cross between the isthmus nature of Costa Rica and the island … [Read more...]

I’ve traveled around the world for decades, but I’ve never felt quite as incompetent and uncomfortable as a traveler as in my first few days as a professional traveler.
Our Costa Rica map and travel guide company can finally afford to pay it’s first two employees a little, so on this research and … [Read more...]

The main reason we made this the last stop on our tour of the Osa was that Meghan and Ryan had never been to the Isla del Caño Biological Reserve Sector of Corcovado National Park. The easiest access is from the boat in lodges along the section of the coast stretching from Drake Bay past Punta Río … [Read more...]

La Leona tent camp is highly recommended for anyone who's looking to get off the beaten path. You don't have to walk across the Osa Peninsula to get there but it is a great way to arrive. You do have to walk approximately 1.6 km along the beach from Carate but you can arrive there by more … [Read more...]

After an eventful night and a visit to the gold mines we headed out on the the third day of our trek on the Sendero de Oro (Gold Trail). Shown on the map as Day 3 - We left the Piedras Blancas headed southwest on indigenous footpaths which climbed steeply to about 1,600 feet (500 meters) over a … [Read more...]

Osa Peninsula Costa Rica – Quebrada Piedras Blancas, a night at camp EdEase & the gold mine
Our friend Edwin works with a Dutch company called Mambo that sells adventure travel. He was developing the Sendero de Oro as a new back country trek and needed guinea pigs for testing. Of course we … [Read more...]

Osa Peninsula Costa Rica – Dos Brazos to Quebrada Piedras Blancas (camp EdEase)
Sendero de Oro – Route Map
The Sendero de Oro (Gold Trail) is a conglomeration of a few kilometers of abandoned 4WD road, many following the riverbeds of the Rios Tigre, Piedras Blancas and Carate, a couple of long … [Read more...]

Revisiting Puerto Jiménez, Trekking the Sendero de Oro, Tent Camping at Drake Bay, Across Corcovado National Park & Underwater at Caño Island Biological Reserve
We first visited the Osa over eighteen years ago when we spent a few nights in Jiménez then trekked from La Palma on the Golfo … [Read more...]

Not sure whether to laugh or cry
Vacations are supposed to take you away from the craziness of everyday life...hope you don't end up sharing a hotel with any of these people...
“The beach was too sandy. We had to clean everything when we returned to our room.”
“It took us nine hours to … [Read more...]

We Miss Costa Rica’s Potholes
Though far from extinct, the Costa Rican pothole is definitely on the endangered list. Their numbers are down from the millions to a few thousand and their habitat has been severely reduced by “progress.”
If you’ve ever spent any time in Costa Rica you’re … [Read more...]

I don't know who coined the phrase "over the hill" but it seemed like an apt title for the tale of our trek across southern Costa Rica - from the Caribbean to the Pacific, up and over the Talamanca mountains and through La Amistad International Peace park.
When Sue and I turned the big five-oh we … [Read more...]

Day 2 - March 18
Hiking - 13.7 km (7.8 miles), 529 meters (1,670 ft) elevation gain.
We followed the south bank of the Río Coén through the wide relatively flat Valle de Talamanca for most of the morning.
Packing Up and Heading Out
Our packs were smaller and lighter than the porters. It … [Read more...]

Day 3 - March 19
Hiking - 11.6 km (7.2 miles), 467 meters (1,532 ft) elevation gain.
Kichuguecha
Not that Coroma was a metropolis (no stores, offices or really anything but gardens and houses) but Kichuguecha was as close as you could get to nothing and still be something. The only building is … [Read more...]

Day 4 - March 20
Hiking - 9.9 km (6.2 miles), 913 meters (2,995 ft) elevation gain.
First a steep climb out of the the Río Coén valley, over the ridge on the west side of the Quebrada Yobri drainage then down to the Río Tapari - a major tributary of the Coén which we'd been told we'd need … [Read more...]

Day 6 - March 22
Hiking - 7.5 km (4.7 miles), 467 meters (1,532 ft) elevation gain.
Slept in and messed around this morning. Didn't leave camp until around 7:20 a.m. because it would be a short easy day.
Water Fall
There was a tradition on the Outward Bound course I took in Colorado 33 … [Read more...]